A few seconds on Brick Lane
Photographed on the corner of Brick Lane and Bacon street in 1985 this market trader is taking a cigarette break and Looking across the street in the distance.
Man on a corner of Brick Lane, 1985
What I find fascinating about these few seconds is that the market trader appears oblivious to the people walking past and sharing his pavement space.
Man on a corner of Brick Lane, 1985
Man on a corner of Brick Lane, 1985
Man on a corner of Brick Lane, 1985
Strangely the moments captured suggest an intimacy between the subjects.
East End Film Festival Poster Competition
I was delighted to receive the photograph (below) from my friend the ‘Gentle Author” who publishes the distinctive and gripping daily blog Spitalfields Life.
East End Film Festival Poster, Bethnal Green Road 2011
The branding for the East End Film Festival this year has drawn inventively from my East End photo archive thanks to a selection by the festivals artistic director Alison Poltock. Below is the original photograph from the Brick Lane of the 1980’s.
Brothers outside shop on Brick Lane, 1985
How different Brick Lane looks today. Below I have inserted the 1985 photograph into today’s Brick Lane.
Brick Lane, 1985/2010 composite
Please send your photos of any East End Film festival poster sites with the 1985 Brick Lane image to me at maxwellphotouk@yahoo.co.uk. The sender of the ‘best’ image will receive a signed print of the original image and the runner up will receive two free tickets to the premiere of East End Lives 3 at the Genesis Cinema on 28 April at 8:30pm. The film was made and directed by Hazuan Hashim and myself. Hazuan will be answering questions at the Q&A following the screening. Incidentally there will be a surprise screening of a new short at the start of the programme featuring the talented singer Chris Savage King.
Stairs to Spitalfields
The stairs below in Pauline House, Spitalfields are rarely used as two lifts service the 17 floors. The concrete steps are mainly an escape mechanism in case of fire or a refuge for smoking youths who wish to depart overcrowded flats and engage in stairwell bonding.
Stairs in Pauline House, 1996
Limited light and utilitarian design combine at times to grace this space with an allure that steps at nearby Spitalfields Christchurch (below) could never compete with.
Christchurch Spitalfields, 1986
The utilitarian luminosity of the Pauline House stairwell is equally a match for the staircase (below) to the first floor of the Whitechapel gallery.
Whitechapel gallery staircase, 1989
Possibly the most malevolent staircase in Spitalfields (below) engaged the bridge joining the old cobbled street Fleet Street Hill near Allen Gardens and Cheshire Street. Regrettably the iconic shortcut was sacrificed to the Crossrail project.
Fleet Street Hill staircase, 1988
Street Chairs
Remove an object from its usual environment and it can loose its natural elegance or perhaps take on a new persona.
Chair on Brick Lane with leaves, 1998
The abandoned chair on Brick Lane (above) appears to have entered a dialogue with its new environment. The upholstered frills at the base of the chair appear to mimic the Autumn leaves which move freely on the road. There is something about a comfortable chair on a street which makes it more inviting than a chair in a lounge in a house.
Two chairs on Brick Lane with seated woman, 1998
The woman above has seized the opportunity to view the movable tapestry of trendy pedestrians on Brick Lane from the comfort of the abandoned chairs next to the shutter closing an entrance into part of the Truman brewery complex. Someone has already taken the seat cushions but the chair is still a comfortable temporary alternative to standing.
Chair in concrete skip, 2006
Despite the removal of its seat cushion the striped chair above still manages to retain some of its former elegance in the concrete skip which prepares it for recycling.
Porters
According to the NHS Careers website “porters play a vital role throughout the hospital. They move frail and often very ill patients between different departments and wards in safety and comfort. They also transport complex and valuable equipment that may need expert handling around the building.” It is reassuring that an organisation that has so many highly qualified staff can acknowledge in connection with porters that “Without them the hospital could not function.” No formal qualifications are required to be a porter but I can confirm from experience that refined and sensitive communication skills are essential.
The basement Corridor at St Bartholomew's Hospital, 2011
I recall taking the photograph above whilst being pushed by a hospital porter in my bed. I remember this incident particularly as I mentioned to the porter how the journey he was taking me on reminded me of the film ‘The Shining’ with Jack Nicholson. Both the conversation and the photograph were influenced by class A drugs but I remember a long conversation with the porter pushing my bed (which was both my crane and dolly) about the joys of Jack Nicholson.
Porters at the Royal London hospital, 2005
A few years ago I photographed the porters (above) at the London hospital when I was photographer in residence there. They were kind enough to guide me to intriguing and hidden places which were to disappear in the impending refurbishment. With their help I was able to capture some fascinating forgotten spaces of the hospital which have since disappeared.
Market porters in Bangladesh, Dhaka 1995
These porters paused briefly for me to take their photograph in the port area of Dhaka. They remind me of the porters at the London hospital despite their less formal pose.
